“This is my Texas A&M:” The Interplay of Institutional and Individual “Narratives of Difference” in Higher Education

Although most colleges and universities claim to be committed to the values of diversity and inclusion, repeated race-related incidents across the nation highlight the ongoing need to engage issues of race on college campuses. However, it is important to explore these issues at the institutional and individual level. Narratives are an important way to engage this interplay because they serve as tools for both institutional and individual identity negotiation. In particular, I am focused on “narratives of difference,” which I define as those that explore experiences of difference and identity. As such, this study examines how institutional and individual “narratives of difference” interact within institutions of higher education to influence core organizational narratives and students’ relationship to the institution. In order to engage this central problem, I employed three methodologies: (1) archival analysis, (2) photovoice, and (3) walking tour interviews. What I found is that Texas A&M has framed its core institutional narratives, which are grounded in its (military) history, traditions, and core values, to reinforce the notion of the “Aggie Family” as inherently inclusive. The result is the advancement of a model of inclusion as assimilation. As long as newcomers, regardless of their identities, are willing to assimilate into the existing culture, they will be welcomed here. Likewise, the university uses memorialized places and campus tours as occasions for telling this institutional story stock and to reinforce its macro culture. At Texas A&M University, being part of the “Aggie Family” is a unifying force and students across all racial groups take pride in it. However, how exactly the “Aggie Family” is defined is more malleable than the university presents. While the institution has promoted the values of the “Aggie Family” as inherently inclusive, the experiences of diverse students challenge this. They resist full assimilation into this construction by joining identity-based organizations and creating supportive communities with other students from similar backgrounds, highlighting means of improving inclusivity. These findings illuminate meaningful implications for higher education institutions, organizations in general, as well as the field of communication

Desenvolvimento de aplicativo de celular educativo para pacientes submetidos à cirurgia ortognática

Objetivo: desarrollar, evaluar y correlacionar la aceptabilidad de una aplicación educativa de celular para pacientes sometidos a la cirugía ortognática. Método: estudio metodológico basado en el diseño instruccional sistemático con contenidos de aprendizaje al paciente por una aplicación de celular. Facilidad de uso y la satisfacción del usuario se evaluaron para 30 pacientes en el perioperatorio mediante un cuestionario electrónico enviado por redes, correo electrónico y tarjeta de visita social. La medida del instrumento Escala usabilidad Sistema validado en el instrumento portugués y la satisfacción del usuario basado en otro estudio fueron aplicados después del uso de la aplicación. Los datos fueron analizados con estadística descriptiva y correlación de Spearman. Resultados: la aplicación denominada “OrtogApp” presenta contenido validado en estudio previo, incluye cinco sesiones de contenido de aprendizaje esenciales para administrar el cuidado perioperatorio. Era disponible en las plataformas IOS y Android. La facilidad de uso correspondió a 79,8 + 15,4 puntos y el índice de satisfacción fue 82,9%, la correlación de la edad, escolaridad y usos de la aplicación con los instrumentos no fue significativa. Conclusión: OrtogApp es una aplicación educativa con contenido validado por profesionales, que resultó en alta satisfacción del usuario y buena facilidad de uso. Los pacientes pueden utilizar la aplicación como material educativo de apoyo complementario a las orientaciones dadas por enfermeras perioperatorias y/o cirujanos durante el cuidado perioperatorio.Objective: to develop, evaluate and correlate the acceptability of an educational mobile application to patients submitted to orthognathic surgery. Method: methodological study based on systematic instructional design with contents aimed at patient learning through a mobile application. Usability and user satisfaction were evaluated by 30 patients in the perioperative stage through an electronic questionnaire sent by social networks, e-mail and business card, measured using the System Usability Scale instrument validated in Portuguese and user satisfaction with an instrument based on another study, after its applications. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation. Results: the application named “OrtogApp” features content validated in a previous study included five learning content sessions essential for managing perioperative care, and it is available on IOS and Android platforms. Usability corresponded to 79.8 + 15.4 points and the satisfaction index was 82.9%; correlation of age, schooling and uses of the application with the instruments was not significant. Conclusion: OrtogApp is an educational application with content validated by professionals, resulting in high user satisfaction and good usability. Patients may use the application as supportive educational material to supplement guidance provided by perioperative nurses and/ or surgeons during perioperative care.Objetivo: desenvolver, avaliar e correlacionar a aceitabilidade de um aplicativo educativo de celular para pacientes submetidos à cirurgia ortognática. Método: estudo metodológico baseado no design instrucional sistemático com conteúdo de aprendizagem ao paciente por aplicativo de celular. Usabilidade e satisfação do usuário foram avaliadas por 30 pacientes em perioperatório por meio de questionário eletrônico enviado por redes sociais, e-mail e cartão de visita, mensurados com o instrumento System Usability Scale validado em português, e satisfação do usuário com instrumento baseado em outro estudo, utilizado após uso do aplicativo. Os dados foram analisados com estatística descritiva e correlação de Spearman. Resultados: o aplicativo nomeado “OrtogApp” apresenta conteúdo validado em estudo prévio, incluiu cinco sessões de conteúdo de aprendizagem essenciais para gerenciar o cuidado perioperatório e foi disponibilizado nas plataformas IOS e Android. Usabilidade correspondeu a 79,8 + 15,4 pontos e o índice de satisfação 82,9%. A correlação da idade, escolaridade e usos do aplicativo com os instrumentos não foi significativa. Conclusão: OrtogApp é um aplicativo educativo com conteúdo validado por profissionais que resultou em alta satisfação do usuário e boa usabilidade. Os pacientes podem utilizar o aplicativo como material educativo de apoio complementar às orientações dadas por enfermeiras perioperatórias e/ou cirurgiões durante o cuidado perioperatório

Microbiota bacteriana aeróbica conjuntival em pacientes diabéticos com hemoglobina glicada normal e alterada em duas regiões brasileiras

Purpose:To study the aerobic bacterial microbiota of the conjunctiva in diabetic patient with regard to the management of diabetes, assessed using glycated hemoglobin levels.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted using conjunctival smears of diabetic patients from both sexes and with different ages, residing in two different Brazilian cities (Sorocaba and Rio Branco). A control group of non-diabetic patients was also included. The diabetic patients were considered to have controlled diabetes when their glycated hemoglobin level was ≤7% and blood glucose level was ≤126 mg/dL. Patients with non-controlled diabetes were those with glycated hemoglobin levels >7% and blood glucose levels >126 mg/dL. The samples obtained were inoculated in Brain-Heart Infusion broth and in culture media for aerobic bacteria (blood and chocolate agars); bacterial growth wa evaluated in a microbiology laboratory.Results:A total of 120 eyes of 120 patients were included in the present study. The percentage of cultures in which bacterial growth was observed was greater in diabetic patients, although the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.103). There was a greater trend toward bacterial growth in the conjunctiva of diabetic patients with altered fasting blood glucose. There was no difference in the frequency of bacterial growth on the conjunctiva between diabetic patient with normal or altered glycated hemoglobin levels. In Sorocaba, conjunctival bacterial growth was similar to that observed in Rio Branco. The microorganism most frequently detected in the present study was Staphylococcuepidermidis, followed by Staphylococcus aureus,Proteus mirabilis, and Escherichia coli.Conclusion:There was no difference between diabetic patients with normal or altered glycated hemoglobin levels. The microorganisms found were similar to those found in studie investigating the conjunctival bacterial flora of diabetic and non-diabetic patients.Objetivo:Estudar a microbiota conjuntival bacteriana aeróbica dos pacientes diabéticos em relação ao controle glicêmico, verificado através da hemoglobina glicada, em dua cidades distintas.Métodos:Foi realizado um estudo transversal utilizando raspados de conjuntiva de indivíduos diabéticos de ambos os sexos e idades variáveis de duas cidades: Sorocaba e Rio Branco. O grupo controle foi constituído de pacientes não diabéticos. A amostra foi constituída de pacientes diabéticos que foram considerados controlados com hemoglobina glicada ≤7% e glicemia de jejum ≤126 mg/dl e não controlados com hemoglobina glicada >7% e glicemia de jejum >126 mg/dl. O material obtido foi semeado em meio líquido Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) e em meios de cultivo para bactérias aeróbicas (ágar sangue e ágar chocolate). O crescimento bacteriano foi avaliado em laboratório de microbiologia.Resultados:Foram incluídos 120 olhos de 120 pacientes. A porcentagem de culturas nas quai houve crescimento bacteriano foi maior em pacientes diabéticos, sendo a diferença não estatisticamente significante (p=0,103). Não houve diferença entre o crescimento bacteriano em pacientes com hemoglobina glicada normal e alterada. Houve uma tendência maior de crescimento bacteriano em conjuntivas de paciente diabéticos com glicemias de jejum elevada. Em Sorocaba houve crescimento bacteriano conjuntival semelhante a Rio Branco. O microrganismo mais frequente encontrado neste estudo foi Staphylococcus epidermidis, seguido de Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis e Escherichiacoli.Conclusões:Não ocorreu diferença entre pacientes diabéticos com hemoglobina glicada normal e alterada. Os microrganismos encontrados foram semelhantes aos estudos da flora bacteriana de conjuntivas normais e de diabéticos.Federal University of São Paulo Department of Ophthalmology and Visual SciencesFederal University of Acre Department of OphthalmologyFederal University of São Paulo Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Cornea and External Diseases SectionUNIFESP, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual SciencesUNIFESP, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Cornea and External Diseases SectionSciEL

O turismo para a comunicação ou a comunicação para o turismo? Quem consome quem?

This article is inserted in the context of tourism and mediatizacion, that is, in this new scenario of communication in which the field of medias are crossing all other social fields (including tourism), and for them being traversed. In this perspective, the tourist practices that are constantly growing, has used these communication strategies to make your speech stronger, doing with that, often, the tourist (amateur actor) is the own activity spreader (actor specialist) through blogs, websites or fanpages. This ambience of communication is providing a new way to do tourism, in which we observe the breaking down of boundaries between the fields and circular tourist communication.Este artigo está inserido no contexto do turismo e da midiatização, ou seja, neste novo cenário comunicacional em que o campo dos mídia estão atravessando todos os demais campos sociais (inclusive o turismo), e por eles sendo atravessados. Nesta perspectiva, as práticas turísticas que estão em constante crescimento, têm utilizado dessas estratégias comunicacionais para fazer valer cada vez mais o seu discurso, fazendo com que, muitas vezes, o turista (ator amador) seja o próprio propagador da atividade (ator especialista) através de blogs, sites ou fanpages. Esta ambiência da comunicação está proporcionando uma nova forma de se fazer turismo, em que observamos a quebra de fronteiras entre os campos e uma comunicação turística circular

Improved drug loading via spray drying of a chalcone implant for local treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis

International audienceCurrent chemotherapy of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), even the mildest forms, encompasses multiple and painful injections with toxic drugs that cause systemic adverse effects. Recently, we showed the promising use of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles loaded with an antileishmanial nitrosylated chalcone (CH8) for effective, safe, local, and single-dose treatment of CL. Here, we proposed to optimize the delivery system by increasing the CH8 loading in PLGA-microparticles using spray drying instead of emulsification-solvent evaporation. The effect of solvent composition and polymeric matrix changes on thermal properties, loading efficiency, particle size, morphology, and spatial drug distribution of the CH8-loaded microparticles was evaluated. The results showed that spray drying allowed a higher CH8 content (18% w/w), as contrasting with the previous solvent evaporation technique that maximally incorporated 7.8% of CH8. In vitro studies on 96-hour incubation with L. amazonensis-infected macrophages showed that entrapment in spray-dried PLGA microparticles rendered CH8 safer, preserved its antileishmanial activity, and did not affect its antioxidant properties

Can High School Educators Bridge the Gap?: The Role of Teachers and Counselors in Improving Minority Students' Perceptions about Higher Education via Effective Message Construction

The central aim of this thesis is to explore the types of messages that high school educators construct and whether or not they are appropriate for minority student groups. Appropriate in this instance is assessed by whether or not teachers and counselors address the relevant needs and barriers of their diverse student bodies. This topic was explored through three in-depth case studies of high schools in central Texas. Teachers and counselors from three school districts were interviewed to learn more about their perceptions regarding their students’ barriers to higher education and how messages about college are designed to combat them. Results of the individual case studies revealed interesting themes regarding message source, content and initiation, as well as contextual factors that impact message production and reception. High school educators tended to promote colorblindness and lacked recognition of intersectionality when it came to the barriers faced by their diverse student bodies, which impacted the messages they disseminated about higher education. However, most teachers and counselors also tended to favor messages that were individualized to each student, as opposed to one-size-fits-all. Educators saw their role as giving both informational and motivational messages about college, although how this manifested itself in each school district varied. A comparison of the three case studies led to the design of a practical model for message design and recommendations for future research

Manual but not instrument-assisted cervical manipulation reduces pain and disability in subjects with nonspecific neck pain: double-blinded, randomized clinical trial

There is limited evidence comparing the effects of manual and instrumented-assisted manipulations among adults with neck pain. Our purpose was to determine the effects of a multisession regime of manual and instrument-assisted cervical manipulation on pain, disability, perception of change, and muscle properties in subjects with nonspecific neck pain. We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study in 32 subjects with nonspecific neck pain. Two groups received three sessions of cervical (C3/C4) manipulation, one group manual and the other instrument-assisted, a third group received three sessions of sham manipulation, and a fourth group served as a control. Self-reported pain, pressure pain thresholds, neck disability, patient perception of change, and properties (tonus, stiffness, and elasticity) of the upper trapezius and biceps brachii were assessed at baseline, immediately after the first session and 15 days after the end of the intervention. After the end of the intervention, the percentage of changes in the visual analogue scale score, Neck Disability Index, and Patient Global Perception of Change score were significantly higher in the manual group in comparison with the other groups (p < 0.05). No between-group differences were observed in the percentage of changes in tonus, stiffness, and elasticity of the four muscles at the end of the intervention. We concluded that three sessions of C3/C4 manual manipulation improved pain and disability in subjects with nonspecific neck pain.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mastectomía profiláctica contralateral en el cáncer de mama unilateral

Se ha observado una tendencia en los últimos años a un incremento de la mastectomía profiláctica contralateral en pacientes con diagnóstico de cáncer de mama unilateral, argumentada como cirugía reductora de riesgo y de prevención del desarrollo futuro de cáncer de mama en la mama sana. En contra de lo que sería esperable, el incremento de la realización de MPC no resulta mayormente explicable por un aumento de la identificación de factores de riesgo. Este hallazgo sugiere que hoy en día la MPC no se realiza exclusivamente en pacientes de alto riesgo, y puede incluso que se esté realizando en pacientes con un riesgo acumulado muy bajo de cáncer de mama contralateral. Aunque pueden considerarse otras opciones, la indicación de MPC es poco discutida para las mujeres que tienen mayor riesgo de cáncer de mama contralateral. Las motivaciones de las pacientes con bajo riesgo de desarrollar cáncer de mama contralateral son: una reducción de riesgo de cáncer de mama contralateral, una mayor supervivencia o la tranquilidad de no tener que volverse a enfrentar en el futuro con un nuevo diagnóstico y tratamiento de cáncer de mama y su preocupación por el resultado estético. Las mejoras en la mastectomía, las técnicas de reconstrucción y el acceso a ella han contribuido también al aumento de las tasas de MPC. En el momento de considerar la MPC, es importante sopesar el riesgo de CMC vs beneficio de la MPC, las comorbilidades de la paciente y el riesgo de muerte por un nuevo cáncer vs tumor primario. Y es que hay que tener en cuenta que la MPC no está libre de riesgos y las complicaciones pueden requerir procedimientos quirúrgicos adicionales con la consiguiente pérdida de la reconstrucción. Por lo tanto, el proceso de toma de decisiones debe incluir una evaluación del riesgo de la paciente de CMC, las opciones reconstructivas disponibles o la capacidad para lograr la simetría si se realiza un procedimiento unilateral, donde la paciente tenga un papel activo en la toma de decisiones, ya que esto se relaciona con mayor satisfacción de la paciente con el resultado final

A BIOPOLÍTICA COMO RACIONALIDADE DO LIBERALISMO:: CONEXÕES FOUCAULTIANAS

O filósofo francês Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984) em seus cursos ministrados na prestigiosa instituição Collège de France destacou o ponto chave entre “estado territorial” e “população” e o consequente aumento da importância da vida da nação como um problema específico do poder soberano que progressivamente torna-se Estado Liberal. Partindo das análises foucaultianas das transformações do conceito de vida, biopoder e segurança pretende-se demonstrar a genealogia da racionalidade política moderna do liberalismo na sua feição Biopolítica